Do You Think Your Phone Is Vibrating When It Isn't?

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Marilyn

I keep my phone in my jeans and on vibrate all the time, mostly so my parents don’t hear it. Sometimes I think I’ve felt it vibrate, but it turns out nobody called or anything else. Am I starting to imagine that my friends are texting me?

—Sophie D., San Francisco, California

No, you’ve just gotten so tuned in to your phone (and maybe eager to get a call or text too) that your brain has begun to misinterpret some slight bodily sensation as a vibration. You could call it a tactile hallucination. Auditory hallucinations of a phone ringing are common. Some people even hear their alarm clocks “ring” in the middle of the day when they’re at work!

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